


Without my twin (I'd fall apart)

by Daughter_of_the_TARDIS



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoptive family, Bruce Wayne Adopts Child(ren), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, F/M, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Marinette and Jason are twins, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Dick Grayson, Protective Jason Todd, Protective Selina Kyle, Protective Siblings, So many children, Strong Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS
Summary: Maribat Twins auJason and Marinette Todd are stealing the tires from the Batmobile when life takes them by surprise.
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Bruce Wayne, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Dick Grayson, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 50
Kudos: 279





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette Todd hid in the shadows, a spare tire-iron in her hand as she acted as a lookout for her twin. Jason was the muscle out of the pair, while Marinette was the planner. And as risky as their current plan was, if it paid off it would be worth the risk.

The tires from the Batmobile would fetch a pretty price - enough to buy them food for months if they rationed it out properly, maybe even a tiny apartment for them in the heart of Crime Alley for in the middle of winter.

The streets were dark around them, to the point where she almost didn't see when the shadows around her moved. But the Bat turned his head, and she saw the white of his eye lenses. Her heart stopped for a second - Jason was still focused on the tires themselves, with no idea that the Bat was creeping up behind him. She didn’t know what the Bat would do if he caught him, and definitely didn’t want to find out, either. So she whistled lowly to get Jason’s attention, then charged.

Marinette ran up behind the Bat, swinging the tire-iron in her hands with as much force as she could, not even thinking about the possible consequences. “Get your hands off my brother!” she shouted, almost proud of the pained sound that escaped the gigantic man in front of her when she hit him with the tire-iron. Then she grabbed Jason’s hand and ran, dragging him along behind her. She didn’t know where they were going, only that they had to get as far away as they could. And while the tires were the last thing on her mind, she still spared them a thought. But they were tucked away in the alley, where there was no chance of the Bat finding them.

Jason laughed as they ran, mainly at the look of sheer surprise that had been on the Batman's face. "Nice shot, Pixie." she laughed as well, the sound echoing off of the nearby brickwork. 

She turned back to look at him as she answered, which turned out to be her mistake. She ran into something, bouncing back and nearly falling over from the force. Still, Jason caught her before she could land, his fingers on her arms feeling like vice grips as they stared up at what she had run into.

Batman was in front of them, blocking off the entire alleyway. And while they could have turned around and started running back the other way, there was no way that the caped crusader wouldn’t catch them. So she just stood there and stared at the vigilante, and Marinette felt a shiver run up her spine. The man was intimidating, even to a street kid in Crime Alley. She could feel Jason shifting closer to her and was just grateful that he was. They had faced everything in life together so far - they would take on the Bat together, too.

Still, the Batman just stared at them for a minute longer, before the corner of his lip twitched up. It wasn’t much - for any other costumed hero, it wouldn’t have meant nearly as much as it did. It was enough to make the Todd twins relax, at least. Or at least let them know that their lives weren’t in danger.

Batman just stared at them. The kids had guts - one of them had gotten three out of his four tires, and the other one hadn’t even hesitated in attacking him. And as he looked them over, he couldn’t help but notice how tiny they both were. Their faces were dirty, and both of them were wearing clothes that were several sizes too big and not at all weather appropriate. “So which one of you is going to put the tires back on my car?” he asked, glaring down at them.

Mentally, he was already figuring out which bedrooms would be theirs. 

8888

Neither Jason nor Marinette was sure how they had gotten to this point. Half an hour earlier, they had been stealing the tires off of the Batmobile when they had been caught by the Bat himself. He had made them put the tires back, and then had told them to get in the car. The twins had stared at each other for a moment in silent conversation, then had done as he asked.

They had done the same when he told them to get into the Batmobile, neither one of them sure what was coming next. There were several options - he could turn them into the police, into social services. He could turn them into bats for all they knew - the streets were full of all sorts of strange stories about what the Bat was capable of.

Instead, he took them to the Bat Cave. He offered them a place to live. And then - after making him swear that they would never reveal what he was going to tell them - he revealed his identity.

Batman was Bruce Wayne. 

Bruce Wayne, who had tripped over his own feet at a Gala and then fell down a flight of stairs.

Bruce Wayne, who was known for being the life of every party that he went to and a bit of a playboy. That image had gone down significantly after he had adopted Dick Grayson, but was still around enough to give him a convincing cover when he needed it. Not that he needed it often - there weren’t many people who would even entertain the theory that Batman and Bruce Wayne were somehow connected.

It had taken a good thirty minutes to convince the twins that yes, he was Batman and no, he hadn’t accidentally broken in and stolen his own costume. As ridiculous as the idea was, he still stored it for later - he never knew when he might need an excuse like that.

And when he had asked them if they wanted to live at Wayne Manor, it hadn’t taken them nearly as long to agree. The pair had a silent conversation for a few minutes, before they both turned to look at the Bat, nodding in unison. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Wayne.” the girl said. She had dark hair and blue eyes, and so did her brother. “I’m Marinette Todd. This is Jason, my twin brother.”

8888

Wayne Manor was like nothing that she had ever seen before in her life. It was huge - half of Crime Alley would have fit into the house on its own, and that wasn’t even counting the grounds. Half of the rooms were shut up, the furniture inside covered with sheets and giving it all an almost haunted look. But the rooms that were used were the exact opposite - they were well-lit and clean, but still lived in. There were shoes by the front door and paperwork on the dining room table. And for some reason, there were scuff marks on the ceiling. 

Marinette stuck as close to Jason as she could - Mr Wayne and Mr Pennyworth had been nothing but kind to them so far, but there was still a part of her that was waiting for something to go wrong. Everything around her looked almost too expensive to look at, let alone touch. It made her nervous - she was nimble, light on her feet and practically dancing through the shadows to escape from the bigger street kids, but Jason had always been a brawler. She was more than a little worried about what might happen if Jason broke something expensive.

Still, Mr. Wayne had been nice to them so far, and Alfred even more so. Both had mentioned calling Dick Grayson - Mr. Wayne’s ward - in the morning, something that neither Todd was all that sure they were looking forward to. But their stomachs were full for the first time in years, they were clean, and they had somewhere warm to spend the night.

Even if this ended up as a one-time thing, the Todd twins were perfectly happy with how things were going.


	2. Chapter 2

It hadn’t taken the pair of them long to join in with what Dick had jokingly called ‘the family business’. Dick had graduated from being Robin, and Babs had let Marinette take over the title of Batgirl with little fuss. The one who had been the hardest to convince was Bruce. The pair had opposite skill sets - Jason was a brawler, happier in a street fight than almost anywhere else. Marinette, on the other hand, was a thief in the night - moving nimbly and often avoiding being seen. They were more than excited to join in.

But Bruce was reluctant to let them out - he had realized that he was wrong to have let Dick join him at such a young age, and didn't want to make the same mistake again. But the twins were determined - they would either go out with Bruce's permission or without it.

So they came to a compromise. Marinette and Jason would spend the next year training under Batman and Nightwing, and then go out with the Bat only under heavy supervision. They wouldn't join in any battles against the Rogues - just assist in things like helping lost children or small things like that. It was enough action that the twins were happy with it, and kept them safe enough that Bruce was willing.

8888

Marinette swung across the rooftops of Gotham, almost giddy at the feeling of flying. While she knew she wasn't actually flying, she also knew that it was the closest she would ever come. She stopped on a rooftop for a minute, still ignoring the sounds of Bruce and Jason yelling at her through the comms unit in her ear. She winced at a particularly creative curse from her twin, but couldn't help the giggle that escaped her at the threat. Marinette knew that she would be in trouble once she got back to the Cave, but that didn't matter at the moment. She wanted the chance to see Gotham properly again, without an overprotective Bat looming over her.

She paused on the rooftop, finding a gargoyle to use as a chair. Her legs swung out over the city, and for the first time in a while she felt a sense of contentment as she looked over everything. She fiddled with her cape as she looked at everything, just taking it all in for a moment. When you looked at it from above, you tended to only see the good things about Gotham.

“Hello there kitten.” a voice called out, and Marinette jumped off of the gargoyle’s back, spinning around. A woman approached her - while she didn’t seem to have the ability to melt out of the shadows like Batman and Nightwing did, she still came close. She was clothed head to toe in black leather, a cowl covering her head with cat ears attached to it, and red goggles over her eyes. “And who might you be - another one of the Bat’s?” the woman purred, watching her carefully.

Marinette turned to look at her, summoning up every bit of courage that she had. She knew the woman in front of her - Catwoman, one of Gotham’s Rouges. “I’m Batgirl.” she said, quickly falling into a fighting stance. “And I won’t let you get away with whatever it is you’re planning, Catwoman.”

But the woman just laughed, looking far too proud of the girl that was supposed to be her enemy. She was adorable, the thief mused - she was so tiny that she looked almost fragile, but it was obvious from her stance that she knew what to do with the muscle that she had. “Calm down, _gatita_.” Catwoman said, laughing. It would have set Mari off if not for the kind smile on the woman's face. It was a strange expression to see on a Rogue, but one that was almost comforting. "I'm not gonna hurt you. The Bat and I have… an understanding."

Marinette scrunched up her nose as she looked at the woman in front of her. She wasn't positive what the other woman meant by what she was saying - but at the same time, she was fairly sure that she didn't want to know. Either way, she didn't get a chance to ask about it.

Marinette tensed up slightly as she heard the thump of reinforced boots landing on the rooftop, followed by the slightly lighter thump of smaller boots. Batman and Robin emerged from the shadows, both of them irritated from chasing Batgirl.

Batman growled the second he saw his daughter, not even noticing the other person on the rooftop at first. "Batgirl, you’re grounded." He said, barely even waiting for his feet to hit the ground before he said it. He had started panicking the moment he realized that his youngest child had disappeared from his side during patrol, not relaxing at all until they had found her again.

Batgirl turned to look at him, her betrayal obvious even with her domino mask on. "What?" She spluttered. She looked at Jason, hoping that he would help her out. But for the first time since the twins had met Bruce, he was in complete accord with the man. "But B -"

But the Bat just growled - he had seen too many bambi eyes from Nightwing as a child to give into them now. Still, he made eye contact with the wall instead of his daughter to give himself an extra edge. "I told you to stay with me." 

"Relax, Bats." Catwoman scolded lazily, rolling her eyes as she wrapped an arm around Marinette's shoulders. "She was with me."

"And how is that any better than being on her own, huh?" Jason asked, already riled up from having to search for his sister and even more angry to find her with Catwoman. He moved over to Marinette, pulling her away from the Cat and standing in front of her protectively. Despite the seriousness of the situation, there was a part of Catwoman that wanted to smile at Robin's reaction to her.

He was a good big brother.

Still, there was something about the youngest bat that made Selina want to wrap her up in blankets and feed her warm milk. "Go home, _gatita_." She purred, a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile on her face as she watched the big bad Bat drag his child away. She didn't step in to help the Bat much, but she would always protect the Robins. "Tell Agent A I said hello."

With that she disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Batman alone on a rooftop with two very curious children, who were dying to know how Catwoman of all people knew about Agent A. Bruce sighed, glaring after Selina's disappearing form - he knew that she had done so on purpose so that he would tell the twins about her. It had taken him a long time - too long, in Selina's opinion - to tell Dick about her when the pair had first started dating, and apparently she didn't want a repeat of the situation.

And despite the million questions that were currently being thrown at him, he couldn't help but be slightly impressed with her for it.

8888

Marinette was bored.

The gala so far had been terrible - she had expected a lot more dancing, like in the books Jason read to her. There wasn't much of that - just people talking to each other about things that none of the people talking actually cared about. Dick wasn't there, and Bruce was busy talking to people, so neither one of them were available. Even Jason was busy hiding from the old ladies who pinched his cheeks.

It was her first one, almost a year after she and Jason had been officially adopted into the Wayne family. Bruce and Alfred had been preparing for months - preparing them for it for months. Not because he was ashamed of them, which was what the twins had originally thought. But because Dick had been completely overwhelmed with his first gala, and they wanted to avoid the same thing happening again.

But they didn't have to worry about them being overwhelmed, because the twins were completely bored. The only good thing about the gala so far was the fashion. Men moving around in three-piece suits and women in dresses of every shape and style and color imaginable. It was like Christmas had come early for the young woman - what had started out as learning how to fix clothing to help them survive on the streets had turned into a budding hobby.

But even admiring the craftsmanship of everyone’s outfits could only last for so long, and she was starting to get bored again when a woman approached her. That in itself was surprising - most of the people had gushed over Marinette and her brothers for the first thirty minutes or so, then had proceeded to ignore them for the rest of the event. Still, this woman walked right up to her. Her hair was cut short, and cat eye eyeliner only made her green eyes more pronounced. But the most intriguing thing - in Marinette’s opinion - was her dress. Whereas everyone else had dressed to impress, the newcomer still outshone them all in her simple dress.

“You must be Marinette.” she said, a smile on her face as she sipped her champagne. “Bruce has told me a lot about you and Jason - I'm normally around the Manor more often but I've been out of town recently. I’m Selina. I'm dating your - Bruce.” she caught herself at the last second, and Mari looked at her in surprise.

That caught her by surprise. She had been suspicious of the woman at first - she still was a little bit. But she had found that most people who just wanted to use her for her connection to Bruce tended to refer to the man as her father. Which he was - it was just that neither she nor Jason liked to call him that.

Selina knew about their aversion to calling Bruce anything other than his name, something that only someone who actually knew her family would know. Willis Todd was the twins' father, and Willis Todd had hurt them time and time again until their Mom had died and they had no choice but to run away. But Bruce was Bruce. And Bruce would never hurt them.

Still, there was something about the woman that was strangely familiar, and it only took her a few minutes for her to figure out what it was. “Hello, Cat.” she said, a small smile on her face.

Selina’s smile only grew. “I’m impressed.” she admitted, looking at the eleven-year-old with pride on her face. “It took Dick a lot longer to figure out my little secret.” 

Marinette just grinned, pride warming her chest even as she relaxed. Now that she could place where she knew the other woman from, she seemed far less threatening. “I’m not Big Wing.”

Selina just laughed at that, only stopping when Jason came running up to them. The relief on his face was plain to see. "Pixie!" He called out, skidding to a stop in front of his twin. "Dickiebird and I have been looking for you!” but his joy disappeared the second that he saw Selina standing there. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his weight shifted, his body moving just enough so that he was shielding Marinette from view. “Who are you? What are you doing with my sister?” he asked, looking like he was ready to fight the other woman already.

Luckily, Dick came up behind them before he could begin. “Selina.” the older Wayne boy said, smiling at her as he pulled her in for a hug. “Good to see you again.”

Selina relaxed into the hug, pulling back just enough to look Dick over properly. “Dickie - so good to see you.” she said warmly, once she was sure that the older boy was alright. “How's Bludhaven? How's Kori?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows slightly. She counted it as a success when her first Robin blushed - she had years worth of teasing about her and the Bat to make up for.

Dick scowled at her, trying to hide the blush that his younger siblings were giggling about - both of them had relaxed further once Dick was there as back-up. “They're good.” he admitted reluctantly before turning to his siblings. "Little Wing, Chickadee - meet Selina. She and Bruce go way back." Selina snorted, earning herself a dirty look from a nearby table - that was an understatement. She and Bruce had known each other, if only tangentially, for almost their entire lives.

"Aren't they just the cutest kittens?" Selina said, smiling softly at the younger kids. Dick made a small sound, looking worried. But she didn’t let him stay that way for long, taking pity on him before he could panic too much. “Oh don't worry, Dickie - your little _gatita_ already figured me out.” She smirked, looking more than a little impressed. “She's clever - I might make her one of mine.”

Dick snorted - as much as Selina might have wanted to adopt the pair herself, there was no way that she would win. Bruce had a team of lawyers on standby for things like that. “Come on you two - B sent me, said it was time for bed.” he looked at Selina, giving her a flash of a smile. “See you later, Cat.” he said softly, giving her a quick hug.

Selina smiled, mussing up his hair before doing the same to Marinette and Jason. “Good night, my kittens.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a question. I'm currently working on Marinette's expulsion from school, but Tom and Sabine wouldn't be the ones that get called in. So the question is:
> 
> Should 'Papa Bear' Bruce Wayne come in and handle the situation? Ft. angry Batdad
> 
> Or should Selina come in and protect her kitten? Ft. proud mother thief/angry because her kitten wouldn't get caught.
> 
> Let me know in the comments, I can't decide!


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette was bent over her work - she had promised Dick that she would fix his suit after their fight last night against Penguin. And at the same time, her mind was racing - coming up with ideas for Selina's wedding dress. Bruce had finally proposed to the woman after nearly a year and a half of hiding the ring. It had taken Selina herself stealing the ring from Bruce's safe and wearing it around the Manor for the man to say anything, but it had finally happened, one way or another.

As tired as she was, she kept working - it was all Dick’s fault that she was so tired, she muttered to herself. He was the one who had wanted them to have a movie night after patrol, keeping them all up until well after the sun had risen. Still, it had been worth it in the end. While Marinette was used to having an older brother, Jason was not. But it was nights like this that helped him realize that Dick was there for them - even if it was just in a popcorn fight.

Jason threw her door open, startling her so much that she missed the fabric and stuck herself with the needle by accident. “Pixie!” he shouted. Just his tone of voice made her anxious - the only things that her twin tended to get this excited about were first edition books and explosive devices, and she didn’t want to listen to either one at the moment. She was in the zone. “I found our Mom!” that caught her attention, mainly out of fear. In her head, she was running through the recent Arkham breakouts - they hadn’t fought Scarecrow recently, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t done something. But no - Crane had been locked up for at least a month now with no word anywhere about him escaping.

So she turned to look at her brother, putting down the fabric that she was working on. “What?” she asked, keeping her voice quiet - she was almost afraid that if she spoke too loudly, it would spook him, and she was too much in shock to be able to chase after him. “Jay…” she didn’t know how to say anything to him - didn’t know what to say. Catherine Todd had died years ago - the twins had been the ones to find her body. 

But Jason’s face was set into an expression that Marinette knew well. It was the same expression that he had had before he had decided that they were going to steal the tires off of the Batmobile. There would be no way for her to talk him out of whatever he had planned short of tying him up somewhere in the BatCave. She started running through a list of people that could help her control the situation. But Bruce was out of town. Dick was somewhere with the Teen Titans. Selina was off in Vegas with the other Sirens - and Marinette really didn’t want to know what they were doing. Even Alfred was nowhere to be found at the Manor. But Jason was determined. “She's in Africa - in Ethiopia, Pix, how cool is that?” he looked awed by the information, and it was enough to make Marinette’s heart sink.

“Jaybird, what are you talking about?” she asked. “Mom died, remember? We found her.” her heart was racing in her chest - she didn’t know what was coming next, but she knew that this was about to be their darkest hour. And she didn’t know what to do to stop it. All she could do was sit there while a wave of dread washed over her like nothing that she had ever felt before.

But Jason just shook his head. “Not Catherine, Pix.” that only set off more warning bells in her head. “Our real mom - our biological one.”

“What?”

“Catherine wasn't our real mom.”

She shook her head - she had heard his words the first time that he had said them, but that didn’t mean that she believed them. “What?” she asked, nose scrunching up slightly as she looked at him. “Jason, what are you talking about?”

“I found our birth certificates - there's a different name on them.” he said, holding out the bits of paper to her so she could look at them. “Sheila Haywood.”

Marinette didn’t even know where to begin with that statement. A part of her thought to question where he had found their birth certificates - or even why he had gone looking for them in the first place - but she didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole right now. Her main priority at the moment was to make sure that Jason was safe. She knew how much he hated Catherine and Willis Todd, and she honestly didn’t blame him. But this was too much.

They were safe now. They had a roof over their heads, food to eat, and a family - even if it was a strange one - that loved them. They were all overprotective of each other. Dick was full of corny jokes and a sense of loss that he thought that no one could see; Bruce was abrasive at best and just terrible with people and emotions on his bad days, but shining with love for them all. Selina was mischievous and clever, and had taken all of the Robins under her metaphorical wing. And Alfred… Alfred was the glue that held them all together.

“I'm going to find her.” Jason announced, pulling Marinette out of her thoughts.

“What? Why?” Marinette asked, her eyes darting around the room as she searched for some sort of way to stop him. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Because I want to meet our mom, duh.” Jason replied, rolling his eyes. “Don't you?”

Marinette scoffed. “Not really.” she said, shaking her head. “She left us behind with Willis. Why would I want to know anyone like that?” And it made sense to her. Catherine Todd hadn’t been the best mother to them - she hadn’t been anywhere close to that - but she had still raised them.

“Because she's our mom!” Marinette’s heart almost broke at that. That was Jason’s biggest downfall - and her own, if she was being completely honest. Both of them would do just about anything for family. Under normal circumstances, she would have been right alongside Jason in his hunt for the woman. But there was something that was warning her not to go. Some sense deep inside her that told her to stay far away from Ethiopia.

So she just kept trying to persuade Jason. “Catherine was our mom - she's the one who raised us.” she said - but that was the wrong thing to say.

Jason’s eyes narrowed as a blank mask fell over his face. “Fine then.” he said softly, a strange sort of finality in his voice. “I'll just go on my own.”

Marinette was terrified. She wanted to go with him - but she couldn’t. Someone needed to stay behind to make sure that Bruce and the others would be able to find him in time. And as much as she liked the idea of going along with him to slow him down, she also knew that Jason wouldn’t hesitate to leave her behind at the first sign of trouble, or if he thought she was purposefully slowing him down. “Fine!” she shouted back, watching as he left the room.

Once he was gone she sprang into action, grabbing her phone off of her desk as she raced towards the Cave. He only had a few minutes head start on her for now, but she needed to wait for reinforcements.

Help would come, and then they would go after Jason. 

8888

She didn't know what she was going to do with herself anymore, Marinette thought numbly as she watched the skies. Rain fell over Gotham, and had been for the last few days since they got back. Jason was gone - killed by the Joker. She had been too late to save him. For the first time in their lives, she hadn’t had Jason’s back, and now he was gone.

Batman and Batgirl had arrived just in time to watch the warehouse go up in flames, and Sheila Haywood herself had been the one to tell them that Robin was still inside. Marinette had lost it completely at that, throwing herself at the woman with a screech of anger, and managed to successfully maul the woman by the time Bruce had managed to pull her off. His reactions were slowed by shock, but even then he was fast enough that the worst Marinette could do was get a few punches in and scratch at the woman’s eyes, leaving them bloodied. After that, she completely shut down - she didn’t even remember the trip back home to Gotham until she had come to in her own bedroom.

Even Bruce was having a hard time with it - he had broken Batman’s first rule, and went after the Joker almost the second that they landed back in Gotham. The man was dead before the next night - but this was the Joker. They weren’t even sure if death could hold him at this point. Still, it was comforting to know that he was gone, even just for a little while.

But even with that, she couldn't stay in Gotham.

It hurt too much to be there. The streets of Gotham had been her and her twin’s playground since they were children, and it only got worse once they became Batgirl and Robin. Then Jason died, and now she could barely even look around the Manor without wanting to vomit, let alone go on patrol. She had locked herself in her bedroom, refusing to leave it or let anyone in. The entire family was there for the first time in a while as they mourned Jason - none of them even went into the backyard after one particularly nosy photographer had managed to break into the grounds to get pictures of the family.

That was the first time she had ever seen Dick truly angry, and from what she had heard the photographer was still in the hospital. She didn’t mind it, really - but then again, she didn’t really have an opinion on it. She didn’t seem to have an opinion on most things anymore.

And then the twins’ birthday came around. Marinette turned thirteen. 

And for the first time in her life, Jason wasn’t there next to her.

Bruce still made a big deal about her birthday like he always did. The first year, he had taken the twins to the zoo. The second year, they had gone to an amusement park, and Jason had ended up vomiting all over both Marinette and Bruce after eating ten chili dogs. Both days had ended up with them back at the Manor, laughing over cake and ice cream.

Marinette had woken up ten minutes after midnight on the day she turned thirteen, and quickly made her way to Bruce’s bedroom. It only took her a minute to slide in between Selina and Bruce, curling up between them in the fetal position. She stayed there for the rest of the night, unable to go back to sleep.

8888

It only took a week after that for Marinette to come to a decision. She had been thinking about it for awhile, running over all of the options and doing research in her spare time. As much as Bruce was willing to let his kids carry out whatever schemes they came up with, he was always more willing to say yes when they put in the work themselves to find a solution to things before coming to him. So she gathered all of the information that she had, and headed to Bruce’s office. 

Her father was bent over his desk, the computer screen illuminating his face as he worked on documents for WE. There was a single picture frame on the desk, and even without looking Marinette knew what it was of - her, Jason, and Dick curled up together after a Wayne Enterprises party, still in their fancy clothes and fast asleep.

“Marinette?” Bruce called out, looking up from the paperwork that he was working on. His brow was furrowed as he looked at his daughter, a slightly confused expression on his face. “Is everything alright, sweetheart?”

She shook her head, taking a deep breath before she said anything extra. “I can’t stay here anymore, B. It… it hurts.”

Bruce studied her quietly, and for a moment she was afraid that he was going to say no. But surprisingly, he nodded. He had seen this coming, in the end. Marinette had been becoming more and more reserved in the months since Jason’s death, retreating deeper and deeper into herself as time went on. It was scaring him, to the point where he had asked Alfred what the older man thought he should do about it. Alfred had said to let her do what she needed to do in order to heal - even if that was to move to the other side of the world. And as much as it pained him to let her leave, he knew he would. He would keep her as safe as he could, but he wouldn’t stop her. “Do you know where you want to go?” Bruce asked.

Marinette nodded. She had been thinking about this for awhile - had searched on the Bat Computer for hours, looking for the best places that she could go. It had been a long list, one that she had slowly narrowed down over time. She had looked for places that had good schools, good cities, and low crime rates. And she couldn’t help it when her search had taken her to one of the fashion capitals of the world. Still, she had her answer. “Paris.”

“Paris, France?”

“No - Paris, Arkansas.” she said dryly, and Bruce huffed. At least her sense of humor wasn’t completely gone, he mused.

Still, there were other questions that needed to be answered. “Why Paris?” he asked, studying his daughter carefully. Truthfully, it didn’t matter what her answer would be. He would let her go no matter what if it would help her.

Marinette shrugged. “It’s as far away from here as I can get.” she said softly, keeping her eyes trained on her fingers as she played with them. “And there’s nothing going on in Paris - nothing bad ever happens in Paris.”

Bruce took a second to study her, seeing the resolve written in every inch of her body. Then he nodded.

Somehow, the simple motion was enough to make the floodgates open, and she could feel tears start to run down her cheeks. “I feel like its my fault.” she said softly.

“What?” Bruce said softly, hurrying over to her side. He picked her up, resting her on his hip as he carried her back to his desk. And while she might have complained that she was too big to be being carried around like that, a part of her was secretly comforted by the movements. “Mari, sweetheart, why would you think that?” he asked quietly.

“He came to me first!” Marinette sobbed, and it was almost liked an enormous weight had been lifted off of her shoulders just from those few words. “I should have gone with him. I should have tracked him, or followed him, or -” she stopped talking for a moment, trying to get her tears under control. It wasn’t working as well as she hoped - if anything, she just started sobbing harder. 

“Hey.” Bruce said gently, running a hand over her back to try and soothe her. When that didn’t work, he got louder. “Hey.” he repeated, getting her attention. “None of this is your fault. None of us expected any of this, and none of it is your fault. If anything, it’s mine - I’m the one who benched him.”

“But -”

“We lost Jason.” he said softly, soft enough that if he had been any quieter no words would have come out at all. “That can never be fixed, and it’s a hole that can never be filled. But losing you too wouldn’t make any of this better.” 

Marinette sniffed. “I love you, B.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.” Bruce said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he pulled her in just a little bit tighter. As much as he hated the idea of letting her out of his sight, he also knew that she needed time away from Gotham and all of the memories that it held. Gotham had been the twins’ playground for a long time even before the pair had become Batgirl and Robin. 

He just hoped that she would be okay in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think?


	4. Chapter 4

Paris was the opposite of Gotham in all the ways that mattered. It was almost unsettling to the native-born Gothamites just how sunny and clean everything was - like Metropolis on steroids. But it was refreshing in a way. A complete change of pace from everything that she was used to.

Selina had come with her to Paris to act as her guardian - the woman had practically jumped on the chance before Bruce could say anything about it. And while Bruce didn’t like the idea of either one of his girls leaving the city without him, he also knew that there was nothing he could do to stop either woman when they put their mind to something. 

Dick, Bruce, and Alfred had helped the women move, having picked out a small apartment with far more security on it than was probably necessary. 

After that, she and Selina spent the last few weeks of summer vacation getting acquainted with their new home. They toured all of Paris, determined to know the city at least half as well as they knew Gotham - that in itself was a tall order since both of them had grown up as street kids. It was almost strange, in a way - as a whole, Parisians didn't care much about American billionaires - even the news didn't seem to be interested. Even in Gotham, the news was interested in whatever scandal the Waynes had gotten into, even if the average Gothamite was content to just leave them be.

Still, she was excited to have a sense of anonymity again - it was one of the only things that she missed about her life before Bruce Wayne had adopted her and Jason.

But when the school year finally began, she wasn't sure who was more of a mother-hen about it all - Bruce, or Selina. It was equal parts sweet and annoying how overprotective they had become. She had already made them both promise not to pull any stunts of any kind after Bruce had offered to buy the bakery across from her school because she said that she liked their macaroons. 

Still, the school that she went to was interesting, to say the least. College Francoise Dupont was nothing like Gotham Academy, and she had yet to decide if that was a good thing or a bad one. It was bright and airy, and there were no reminders here of her twin - and for that she was grateful. And as she stood on the front steps of the school, waving goodbye to Selina and Bruce - the latter of whom had come via video-call - she just hoped that everything would turn out alright.

Maybe for once she could pretend to be a normal girl, Marinette mused. So far, things were going okay. Bruce, Dick, and Alfred had called at least once a week to check in on her so far, and the school seemed nice. No one recognized her so far, which they had expected - no one paid attention to American billionaires in France, which was part of why she had chosen it. Still, she dropped the Wayne from her last name, preferring to go by Marinette Todd. And while she missed her family more than anything, she was still glad to get out of Gotham. The city had too many memories for her, and that was the last thing that she needed.

But the hope of pretending to be normal was quickly shattered when her teacher had asked her to stand up and introduced her to the class as an exchange student from Gotham, then asked if any of the class had questions for her.

Almost immediately, the girl sitting next to her had started to pepper her with questions about the Bat and the Robins, speaking so quickly that Marinette was having a hard time keeping up with it all. Inside, Marinette was reeling - was this what normal kids were like? She already knew that she and Jason had never been normal, street kids never were. Dick wasn’t normal either, but that was just Dick. Marinette was positive that no one would ever call him normal. And the only other children that she had met were at Gotham Academy, who were just as strange to her as their parents were.

If anything, it almost made her crave the strange sort of normalcy that came from Gotham Academy and the familiar brand of weirdness that came from there.

The rest of her classmates weren’t as overbearing as the other new girl - they seemed to be fine with the idea of leaving her alone for the most part. The only ones who didn’t were the two blondes - Chloe Bourgouise and Adrien Agreste. She had never met the Agreste boy before - his father seemed to have the opposite approach to parenting that Bruce did. But it didn’t take long for her to figure out that while Adrien seemed to have the same basic personality type as Dick, he lacked anything even close to social skills. It was almost unnerving, in a way.

Chloe seemed to be on the opposite side of the spectrum - brash and rude, ready to pick a fight with anyone if it meant a moment of attention. They had met once before for a brief moment in New York, but so far the blonde hadn’t said anything about Marinette’s status as a Wayne. In turn, Marinette left her alone - she reminded her just a little too much of Jason for them to ever really be friendly.

Still, for all her new class’s faults, she couldn’t help but be excited when the girl - Alya - almost immediately declared herself Marinette’s best friend. Alya was wrong, of course - Jason would always be first, and then Dick, but Alya could be third. Not to mention, she was an aspiring reporter - she had learned to be wary of anyone in the news industry within her first month living with Bruce.

But the girl was fun and charming, and Marinette knew that both of her parents were worried about her making friends. So she went along with the other girl, talking casually as they studied in the library. Alya told her all about her life, and in return Marinette told her about anything that she and Bruce had agreed would be safe to share.

Until a stone creature appeared in a news report, and Alya ran off after it. That decided it for her - Marinette had already spent enough of her life running after supervillains. She wasn't about to do it when she wasn't even in a costume - and she had hung up her cape and cowl for a reason. Besides, this wasn't her city. Someone else would handle it. Even if Paris didn't have its own dedicated superheros like Gotham did, the Justice League would learn sooner than later.

So she went back home, grateful that Selina had gone to Venice for a few days - she had said something about a gallery exhibit that she wanted to look at. Marinette hadn't asked too many questions - sometimes it was better not to know things.

She was content to just sit in the apartment and watch the news report about what was happening, until she noticed a small box sitting on the kitchen countertop. Marinette moved cautiously - it hadn't been there before she left for school, and no one should have been able to get into the apartment with the amount of security that there was. 

Even Dick had tried - he had made it past every bit of security except for the booby-trap that Marinette had left specifically for him. Which just left the question of how the box had gotten into the house.

Still, Marinette was a Bat - which meant an insatiable level of curiosity. So it took her all of a minute to decide that while leaving the box alone would be the smarter choice, opening the box and finding out what was inside would be the more interesting one.

She just stared at the contents of the box for a moment, puzzled. It was a simple pair of earrings - just plain red studs with a black polka-dotted pattern on them. Nothing fancy about them other than the box that they came in, which meant that they didn’t belong to Selina.

And then Marinette touched them, and everything was enveloped in a bright pink light.

8888

It only took a second to clear her vision from the after effects of the light, and in that time she had already fallen into a fighting stance. It was a habit at this point, one that had been trained into her from years on the streets and patrols with her family. Just like it was a habit to not react to the strange creature staring at her. “What are you?” she asked, all fear gone, replaced with sheer curiosity. “A giant bug… mouse… thing?”

All of that fear came back at once when the creature flew at her face, startling her enough that she fell backwards. “Everything's okay, don't be scared!” it said, it’s voice high-pitched and squeaky.

"You talk!" Marinette cried out, finally reacting properly. She raced towards the kitchen, nearly running into the countertop in her hurry to get to the cabinets. "Stop chasing me!" she ordered, even as she grabbed a glass from the cabinet and slammed it down on top of the creature, trapping it. 

The creature didn’t even flinch, letting itself be caught. “Listen, Marinette, I know everything might seem strange -”

She almost snorted at that statement. “That's one way to describe it.” she deadpanned, and the creature gave her a strange look.

“But you're taking this really well, Marinette!” it continued, seemingly unsure. The little creature looked like it wanted to ask how she was taking this so well, but didn’t know exactly what to say.

She just shrugged - this wasn’t the first time that she had had strange information practically thrown at her. “Practice. What are you?” she asked, her brain coming up with more questions quicker than she could rattle them off. But there were some questions that were far more important than others. “And how do you know my name?”

“I am a kwami, and my name is Tikki. Now just let me explain.” and explain they did. Tikki told her all about the Miraculous and how they worked, and the danger that everyone would be in if Hawkmoth was to get his hands on both the Ladybug and the Cat Miraculous.

Everything was fine until Tikki told Marinette that she had been chosen to be a hero of Paris. That was all it took for Marinette’s world to come crashing down around her. Instantly she was back in Ethiopia, watching Bruce carry Jason’s body out of the rubble of a burning warehouse. She stumbled backwards, letting go of the glass that held the captive kwami.

“You have to trust me!” the kwami said, phasing through the glass of the cup. “You're the only one who can stop Stoneheart!”

But Marinette was shaking her head even as she curled up on the floor, resting against the cabinet. “No - no no no.” she was shaking slightly where she sat on the floor, and a small part of her brain recognized what was happening. A panic attack. She paused for a moment, doing the breathing exercises that Alfred had taught her to calm down. “I gave this up.” she said softly. “I can't - Tikki, you need to find someone else." She told the kwami, nearly sending herself into another panic attack after having barely avoided the first one. She couldn’t do this anymore - the last time that she had put on the cape and cowl, she had lost her twin. The very idea of putting it back on had her terrified to the point where she could barely move.

“But Paris needs you, Marinette.” the kwami said softly, and that was all it took for Marinette to start moving again. Because as strange as the entire situation was, the kwami was right. Paris needed to be defended by someone who actually knew what they were doing - and according to Tikki, the odds of her supposed partner knowing anything were slim. Which meant everything was up to her. She just had to pull herself together long enough to handle it.

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“What do I do with the akuma?” Marinette asked - the last question that Tikki was allowing her for the moment. The kwami had a point - if it was up to Marinette, she would have sat there and asked questions for several hours. But there was currently a stone monster running around Paris, and they didn't have any more time.

“You have to capture it.” Tikki said anxiously. She had never had a chosen ask her this many questions before - and while it was a refreshing change of pace, it also meant that there was more time for the akuma to do damage.

“Okay.” Marinette said, nodding to herself as she put in the earrings. There was a lot of information to remember, and she knew that they hadn’t even scraped the surface of all of the information. “Break the object that has the akuma in it, then capture the akuma. Call up an item to help me by saying ‘Lucky Charm’, and then ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ to fix everything once the battle is over. Did I miss anything?” she asked, turning to look at Tikki.

But the kwami just shook her head.

Marinette took a deep breath. She could do this - she had done it for years back home. Still, there were obvious differences here - she had no family to back her up here. According to Tikki, she couldn't even tell them what was happening - not even Selina, who she was sure would be more than a little intrigued with the idea of magical jewelry. That was worrying in itself - she wasn't any good at hiding things from her family. But she would have a partner, which made her feel a little better. Of course, this was a partner who had little to no training - that reminder made her nerves come back at full force. "Tikki, spots on!" She called out, and she was transformed in a flash of pink light.

Marinette looked over the magical uniform that she had been given once the light show died back down. Pure black armored fabric covered her entire body, with a deep red armored top over that. The red fabric was spotted with black polka dots, and she had fingerless gloves to match the top that she wore. Her boots were thick-soled combat boots - the same kind that she had worn back home to go on patrol. She ran a hand over her face, making sure that there was a mask of some sort there to protect her identity. A domino hid her face from view.

Marinette smiled - this was perfect. The only part of everything that didn’t feel familiar was the weight attached to one hip. She looked down to see a yoyo attached to her hip. Pulling it free, she swung it around experimentally a few times to check the weight of it. It felt like her grapple gun did in her hands, and she smiled before launching herself off of her balcony, quickly flying through the air. The suit seemed to make her stronger than she was used to, but it didn’t take her too long to get used to her new abilities.

She almost couldn’t help the laughter that the wind ripped out of her - while she never regretted her decision to give up the cape and cowl, she had always missed the sensation of flying. And Paris had just enough gargoyles perched on buildings to make it feel like home.

8888

She stopped a few streets away from where the creature - reportedly called ‘Stoneheart’ - had last been spotted. She could hear the monster bellow from where she was, and knew that this would be the place to start. It was one of the first things that Bruce had drilled into their heads - watch your opponents to figure out their weaknesses. She was just starting to settle in to watch when another teenager in black leather started calling out to her from the street. It only took a second for her to get down to him.

“Nice of you to drop in.” the hero said, waggling their eyebrows at the pun. Marinette had to work to hide her groan - this was just what she needed, a baby Nightwing.

“You must be my partner.” she said, looking at him skeptically. “Tikki said you'd show up." She hadn't said that he would look like a baby Catwoman. She had to work to hide her worry at the boy’s confidence levels. He was overconfident, and that tended to get people hurt at best, and killed in the worst case scenarios. She had heard far too many stories of Bruce’s colleagues in the Justice League and their failures to ever assume that she had the upper hand.

“That's me!” he said, puffing out his chest. “Call me… Chat Noir. And you are?”

It barely even took a second for her to come up with a name, taking a quick look at the black-spotted gloves that she wore. “Ladybug.”

He studied her for a moment, toxic green eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Then he smiled - the change in expression was so quick that it nearly gave Marinette whiplash. “I love your hair.”

“Thank you?” she replied, more than a little confused as she reached a hand up to touch her hair. It didn’t feel any different than it normally did - still her usual pigtails. 

“Let’s get going, bugaboo.” Chat Noir said cheerfully, already heading for the monster.

Marinette sighed, but chased after him - someone would have to pull the cat out of trouble. She perched herself on the side of the arena that Stoneheart was in, watching everything going on below them. Ladybug's eyes narrowed. He had definitely gotten bigger when Chat Noir had hit him. That would be a problem. Still, it was easily fixed. 

She was about to join the battle when someone started yelling.

It was Alya. "What are you waiting on, Super Red Bug?" the reporter-in-training demanded, looking irritated. She was standing in the open on the side of the field, phone in hand as she recorded everything. "The world is watching you!" she said, gesturing to her phone.

Marinette sighed under her breath. She had planned on waiting a little bit longer before diving into the battle, and had wanted to wait a lot longer before introducing herself to the world. It didn’t look like she would get either of those things.

8888

Ladybug dived into the battle, somersaulting in like Nightwing had taught her. She tried to avoid hitting the creature as best she could, tripping it up with the string from her yo-yo. “Animal cruelty?” she taunted, pulling the creature’s legs out from under it as she spoke. “How shameful!”

“Sorry it took so long, Chat Noir.” she apologized once the pair reconnected.

But Chat Noir just shook it off, not looking even the slightest bit concerned. “It’s cool, Wonderbug.” he said, making a show of cracking his knuckles. “Now let’s kick his rocky behind!”

"Wait!" Marinette called, grabbing ahold of him before he could run off again. “Haven't you noticed, he gets bigger and stronger with every attack? We have to do something different.”

He noticeably faltered. “Different how?”

Ladybug barely noticed, too busy watching everything around her, looking for something that would spark an idea. “Give me a second, I'm working on that.” she said semi-distractedly.

“Okay then….let's use our powers.” he said, perking back up. “Cataclysm!” he called out, a wide grin stretching across his face as he examined the black energy surrounding his hand. “Apparently I destroy everything I touch.” 

“Sounds familiar.” Ladybug snorted. She could remember multiple times when B or Agent A had scolded them for the exact same thing. 

“Cool!” he said happily, placing his hand against a goalpost and watching as it disintegrated. Then he turned his attention back to Stoneheart, getting ready to attack. “It’s just you and me now.” he muttered, getting ready to jump back into the middle of things. “Time to rumble, soon-to-be rubble!”

“Cat Noir, wait!” she called after him. But it was too late. He landed at Stoneheart’s feet, only having a second to process what was happening before the cat was being flung across the field.

“Didn’t your kwami explain anything to you?” Ladybug huffed. She admired his enthusiasm, really. It was almost adorable. But at the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Bruce, Dick, and Babs had felt when the twins had first joined on patrol.

“I guess I was a little excited about my new life.” the cat admitted, his ears flopping over sheepishly.

Marinette sighed. Now she knew exactly what Bruce felt like.

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“See you soon milady.” Chat Noir called out as he started running in the opposite direction. “We'll have to do this again sometime.” and with that, he was gone, leaving Ladybug alone to grapple back to her apartment.

As she landed on the balcony of her apartment she couldn’t help but think about what that Cat had said to her. ‘I love your hair’. She wondered why - as far as she knew, there wasn’t anything special about her hairstyle. Still, she was determined to find out what he had been talking about

Her hair was streaked through with red - Robin red.

And as her transformation fell, Marinette sank into a ball and cried. Tikki came out of the transformation to a crying Chosen with no idea of anything that she could do to help the situation.


End file.
